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Epitheca cynosura
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Epitheca cynosura

by Jim Zablotny

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted May 18, 2013147 views6 comments
Unfortunately, my good lens was in for repair last year and I was forced to use my Sigma 400mm f5.6 which is a softer lens than my 300mm f4. The common basket-tail was photographed in natural light at f6.3 plus 32mm extension at 1/30th sec exposure. It was breezy that morning and I just could not pull much sharpness from the image. The background is OOF lawn and saturation and selective saturation removal was used to tone down the background. Thank you for looking at this image......Jim

Comments

6 comments
Comment posted by Carolyn Derstine on May 18, 2013 at 9:38 PM
Very fine capture, Jim. What really stands out to me is the great comp. The angles of the perch and the dragonfly work so well together. . .the top diagonal branch and the dragonfly abdomen are somewhat on the same plane as is the diagonal of the little branch with the angle of the wings. The plain background works well to focus all attention on the dragonfly and perch. To me the sharpness looks good, especially with extension tubes, 1/30 sec. shutter speed, and wind!
Registered on February 16, 2011, 610 Posts, 3684 Comments
Comment posted by Howard Cheek on May 19, 2013 at 10:28 AM
Good colors, detail, DOF, and I like the soft even light Jim.
Excellent BG for a DF macro as well, can't beat it :toast:
Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments
Comment posted by Mike Ramy on May 19, 2013 at 2:40 PM
Jim,
Amazing detail here and the larger version is a must see,
All-round image is excellent in all respects,
Well Done . . . :cool:
Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments
Comment posted by scott lanz on May 19, 2013 at 8:21 PM
Excellent all around, Jim.
Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments
Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on May 20, 2013 at 4:09 AM
Jim:

Fabulous capture. :toast: Perfect alignment of the sensors with the head, tail and wings.
Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Seaver on May 21, 2013 at 1:54 PM
The sharpness looks good to me, too. I agree that the various angles work well together and the soft light shows off the details very nicely.
Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments